The conservative Republican’s mind is a scary place. Exhibit A — their“sh*t happens”rationalization regarding global warming and climate change trends:

“Global warming is a fallacy. Myevidence? It snowed today in Buffalo.
Of course, if itisreal, it has nothing to do with carbon-based gas emissions. My 4th grade science teacher told me so.

But then, if carbon gasesareresponsible, it has nothing to do with human activity — it’s totally natural, like plastic.

However, if it turns out that global climate changeisthe result of manmade carbon-based gas emissions, well, it’sGod’s will. Therefore, onlyHecan do anything about it.”

The climate change denial mindset is an outcome of a larger phenomenon that has become a fundamental component of conservative ideology lately — anti-intellectualism.

Fundamentally, climate change deniers refuse to accept the conclusions of the vast amounts of data gathered over many years by thousands of climatologists representing dozens of academic institutions, government agencies, and private sector interests from many nations — data suggesting a causal relationship between global warming and manmade activities. Their reasons for denial are purely of a political nature, but since they don’t accept the conclusions, they must also deny the veracity of the data for no other reason than it conflicts with their denials.

In other words, climate change denial is a conclusion in search of a rationalization.